Mental Health First Aid Training
Shirlan McCray, first lady of New York City, and Dr. Oxiris Barbot announced that 75,000 New Yorkers have been trained in mental health first aid, part of the city’s goal to train 250,000 New Yorkers by 2021. The free mental health first aid program, part of THRIVENYC, is an evidence-based curriculum that teaches participants to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness and substance abuse.
Goal
Help that will be available to everyone in the city
Project
A free course ( 8 hours) teaches residents to recognize signs of mental illness and substance abuse. Trained residents will be able to help with panic attacks and contact someone with suicidal tendencies.
You can sign up for training on any of the 6 days in the 5 boroughs of New York City. English Spanish Arabic French, Haitian Creole and Chinese, and Haitian Creole and Haitian Creole. The initiative is part of THRIVENYC, a program aimed at addressing mental illness, which affects one in five New Yorkers.
30% of the target number of people already trained
November 2015 – Launch of ThriveNYC
September 20, 2018 – 75,000 city residents trained
2021 – 250,000 city residents trained
Results
State: drop in the number of human victims
Citizens: improvement in psychological health, opportunity to acquire useful softskills